The study of history throws up some interesting connections. The annual celebration of the Greek War of Independence bends my mind to connections between Australia and that famous revolution that saw the modern Greek state established. I have written previously about some of the British veterans of the war who came to Australia. Today I write about another British veteran of the war who came to Australia after his service in Greece. It is a story that combines the Greek war with Tasmania and Charles Dickens.
In July 1833 a group of twelve convicts made their escape from Tasmania after seizing the government schooner called the Badger. It was a bold escape requiring much planning. The escape was successful, the escapees making their way all the way north to the Philippines, from whence they split up, some reaching Macau – the Portuguese settlement on the southern coast of China near Hong Kong – others heading for the United States. The organiser of the escape was the former Royal Navy Lieutenant George Darby, a veteran of the Greek War of Independence no less. How did this former naval officer find his way from Greece to a prison on Tasmania?
Born in 1800, we know little about George Darby’s early life, only that he was a commissioned officer in the British Royal Navy by the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence. No doubt his sympathies were with the Greek cause as Darby volunteered to serve under the Scot Lord Cochrane, the senior Philhellene naval commander in the war.
While an early account states that Lieutenant Darby served at the battle of Navarino under Lord Cochrane, this is unlikely. Cochrane and his fleet took no part in the actual battle of Navarino but did take part in various naval engagements that precede this important battle.
Throughout August and September 1827 Cochrane led a small fleet of vessels, including his flagship the aptly named Halles and an armed steamship, the Karteria, harassing the enemy Ottoman fleet along the western coast of Greece, from Navarino into the Adriatic. Pursued by superior forces at Navarino, Cochrane captured one of his pursuers, freeing its slave cargo. Meanwhile the Kateria and three other ships under Cochrane’s second in command Captain Frank Hastings passed Patras and entered the Gulf of Corinth, where at the battle of Itea they sank seven Ottoman ships and captured three.
When the Ottoman Admiral tried to send warships from Navarino to pursue Cochrane’s small fleet, the overall Allied naval commander Admiral Codrington stopped them, setting in train the events that would lead to the battle of Navarino, the destruction of the Ottoman fleet and the eventual victory for the Greek cause.
Lieutenant Darby was most likely to have taken part in these earlier operations with Cochrane’s fleet and would have rejoiced at the victory at Navarino. The Sydney Herald of 1833 stated that Darby had “distinguished himself” in the war.
By 1830 Darby was back in England. It was here that he was convicted of stealing from the York House Hotel in Bath and sentenced to transportation for life to Tasmania, a harsh sentence common at the time. Darby was of “small of stature but of great daring”, according to a history published in 1852. He was determined to escape from the outset. While imprisoned at Plymouth awaiting transportation he plotted with another convict, the master mariner William Philp to seize their transport ship, but they were sent on different ships.
Not to be deterred, Darby began to organise a mutiny aboard his own transport ship, the William Glen Anderson, which had sailed for Australian in May 1831 with over 170 convicts aboard. His aim was to take control of the ship and sail to the coast of America, where he claimed to have considerable treasure. But his plot was thwarted when another convict alerted the Surgeon Superintendent on the ship, noting that Darby was a “dangerous man” who could induce a mutiny “unless vigilantly watched”. The convict who informed on Darby was none other than Ikey Soloman, a London thief considered to be the inspiration for the character Fagin in Charles Dickens’ famous novel Oliver Twist. When the convict ship arrived safely at Hobart in November 1831, the local Lieutenant Governor George Arthur warned Darby not to try to escape from the Colony.
As a veteran of the Greek war, Darby would have welcomed the decision to build a new bridge by public subscription “over the town rivulent in Barrack Street” in Hobart which would be named after the battle as Navarino Bridge. The bridge is now part of Barrack Street, covering the Hobart rivulet, between Collins and Liverpool Streets. There may also have been another Greek war veteran in Hobart at the time. Newspaper reports in 1887 reported that a “tough old sea dog” and veteran of Navarino named “Mr Tomkins” lived in Hobart, working as a newspaper delivery man for the Mercury newspaper, who was always willing to “fight his battles o’er again to any patient listener.”
Despite his dangerous reputation, no doubt Darby’s bearing and naval experience saw him soon appointed to responsible positions in the Colony – a signalman at Mount Nelson and assistant to the Water Bailiff. These positions enabled him to plan his next and ultimately successful escape. In early July 1833 the government schooner, the Badger, was sailing from Hobart to the Colony’s military outposts and penal stations, notably Port Arthur, loaded with provisions, muskets, ammunition and nautical instruments, crewed by convicts. One of the latter was Darby’s former co-conspiritor William Philp.
Somehow Darby took control of the Badger, with the support of its convict crew, many with seafaring experience, and disappeared over the horizon. With their fast vessel and loaded with all the materials the escapers could wish for, Darby and his crew were on their way to freedom. Despite efforts to track down the Badger, the government ships dispatched to find them returned with no sightings. They had vanished.
It was not until August 1834 that the fate of the Badger, Darby and the convict crew was finally determined. They had sailed all the way from Tasmania to Manila in the Philippines, where the Badger was either wrecked or abandoned. Four of the convicts headed to America – no doubt led by Darby in search of his “treasure” – while the others sailed by a Spanish ship to Macau, where they enjoyed their freedom. The Portuguese authorities refused to deport the men back to Tasmania due to the lack of proof provided by the Tasmanian authorities and their good behavior! Darby had disappeared after his successful escape. His success led to calls for the removal of the Lieutenant Governor on the grounds of his incompetence and that he repay the cost of lost ship and its cargo.
The story of Lieutenant Darby and his time in Tasmania is another connection between Australia and Greece that should be remembered when the independence of Greece is celebrated. Not everyone is perfect and the criminal system in early 19th century England was particularly harsh. The sentence of transportation was approved almost by default. We will never know if Darby was truly guilty of the offence for which he was convicted.
His bravery in battle and his maritime skills no doubt aided Darby in overcoming his incarceration and making his escape. Sailing across the Pacific, from Tasmania to Manila is no mean feat, especially in the early 19th century. He was a man of daring. And but for the intervention of the notorious fence, Ikey Soloman, Darby may have escaped before arriving in Australia.
What we do know is that his reputation as a brave and experienced naval officer, who had volunteered for service in the Greek War of Independence, was well known when he arrived in Hobart. Serving under Lord Cochrane, at the time of the battle of Navarino, he most likely took part in the successful naval engagements on the west coast of Greece and the Gulf of Corinth prior to the battle. A volunteer in the cause of Greece had come to Australia and walked the streets of Hobart.
As Hellenes gather to celebrate the success of the Greece’s fight for independence, we should remember this important connection of the war to Australia. Maybe we should enjoy a tot of Navy rum, accompanied by the tunes of a naval hornpipe, in honour of the Royal Navy’s Lieutenant George Darby and the part he played during a crucial moment in the Greek War of Independence – and maybe even a plaque should be erected in Hobart!
A former Classics student, Jim Claven is a trained historian and freelance writer who has researched Hellenic history for many years, including its link to Australia’s Anzac story across both world wars. He is the author of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed: A Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean 1915-16 and more recently Grecian Adventure, a history of the Australian part in the Greek campaign of 1941. He can be contacted at jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.